The PSAC National Board of Directors (NBoD) has placed the Union of National Employees (UNE) in trusteeship, effective October 24, 2022. The NBoD has appointed PSAC National Executive Vice-President Sharon DeSousa as Trustee of UNE.
Maintaining service and representation to UNE members remains our priority. UNE members should continue to contact their Local representative or their UNE National Labour Relations Officer for representation assistance. The operations of UNE shall continue during this period, and PSAC remains dedicated to working with UNE members and staff to uphold the responsibilities of UNE.
Further information will be shared as soon as possible.
The Council for Global Equality have partnered with Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania to launch the first ever global LGBTQI perception index, which is aiming to get a comparative sense of how LGBTQI people in different countries feel about their human rights and safety in their countries. They’ve received 165,000 responses so far, but have indicated to me that the responses from Canada are fairly low, with only about 1,800 Canadians responding. They’d like to increase that number and if you are able to share this out to your networks, that would be great. I did the survey and it really is only a few questions and doesn’t take more than a minute.
Chris Little-Gagné (he/him/il) UNE National Equity Representative for 2SLGBTQ+
A look back on John Watkins and the 2SLGBTQ+ Purge by the Canadian Government
By Kay Hacker
Content warning: This article includes explicit descriptions of systematic, institutionalized homophobia and transphobia, as well as non-graphic descriptions of violence against members of the LGBTQ2S+ community. This article also contains non-graphic mentions of torture and death. Finally, this article talks in-depth about police violence and police brutality involving the RCMP.
Every June, the rainbow flags come out for the ultimate celebration of love and all the diverse forms it takes- a way to celebrate our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Two-Spirit and otherwise Queer and Trans (LGBTQ2S+) siblings in all their beautiful diversity. Many people wonder- why June, specifically?
Well, Pride isn’t always in June. In fact, in Vancouver, Pride is usually celebrated in August! This year marks Vancouver Pride’s 44th anniversary. But internationally, June is recognized as Pride month as a result of the Stonewall Riots in New York City. The Stonewall Inn is a well-known gathering place for LGBTQ2S+ people. In the 60s, it was subject to frequent police harassment. When the police raided the bar in 1969, the patrons (many of whom were trans women of colour) fought back and rioted against police brutality.
See, that’s the thing about Pride: it’s more than just a rainbow party, and more than just a celebration. Pride is a reminder to keep fighting. Pride is a reminder that we as LGBTQ2S+ people are still here, a rebuke and vindication against those who have tried to erase us.
Let me tell you about this fight. Let me tell you about the history of LGBTQ2S+ membership in the public service.
In the 1950s and 60s, the Canadian government made a concerted effort to remove any “suspected homosexuals” (not the words we would use today) from the public service. At first, the focus was mainly on MSM (men who have sex with men), as well as men who acted in ways that did not conform to their expected gender roles, such as wearing the wrong kind of clothes, since the vast majority of public servants were men. WSW (women who have sex with women) and women who acted outside their expected gender roles were also subject to persecution.
Why? Because they stepped outside of what society expected and that was considered dangerous. This was the Cold War, and for the Canadian government it was Us against Them. And there could be no “homosexuals” on our side, therefore They must be against Us.
It was considered a threat to national security to have LGBTQ2S+ people in the public service and specifically in the diplomatic apparatus, since gay public servants might be vulnerable to blackmail. Anything other than perfectly adhering to the gender you were assigned at birth and being attracted to the correct gender in the correct way left folks exposed to violence, discrimination and even criminal prosecution. So, according to the Canadian government, the best way to make the public service less vulnerable to blackmail was to uncover and uproot every possible weak spot (read: LGBTQ2S+ person) before the Russians could.
Despite the fact that there was no evidence of any successful attempts to blackmail LGBTQ2S+ members of the public service, the RCMP launched a massive campaign to unearth any member of the public service suspected of “perversion”. They monitored LGBTQ2S+ establishments and photographed patrons, conducted brutal interviews of suspected and confirmed gay public servants and tracked people down in their private lives. I invite you to think of each violation of these peoples’ basic human rights as an act of violence. LGBTQ2S+ public servants were forced into hiding, fearing for their jobs and for their safety. Thousands of “suspected homosexuals” were put on file in what is now called the LGBTQ purge.
All of this happened at the same time that the Public Service Alliance of Canada was taking shape and stepping up for public servants. This happened when my grandparents were finishing high school. You might have been alive when this happened- you certainly know at least one person who was.
I’m only telling you a small portion of the story today. I want to include so much and I know that there is still so much left to uncover. And at the same time, writing this article has been very difficult for me. Each personal narrative that I read, every article trying to capture the sea of pain in a tidy bucket… it feels like a punch in the gut. This is my community- both the LGBTQ2S+ community, and the public service.
To end this article, I want to tell you the part of the story that hit me the hardest and has stuck with me, even now: the story of one man, one victim of the LGBTQ purge. For me, the entire LGBTQ purge is filtered through his experience.
Let me tell you about John Watkins.
John Watkins was Canada’s first ambassador to Moscow. By all records, he was quite good at it, arranging for a landmark meeting between Lester B. Pearson (then-minister for external affairs) and Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union. He was a good diplomat, and a good man- popular in the public service, always with a story to tell. He was also a man who was attracted to other men. John Watkins died in 1964 at the age of 62, in a hotel in Montreal, of a heart attack. He died at the end of a four-hour long interrogation by the RCMP. By that point, he had been under constant surveillance and daily 3–4-hour interrogations for almost a month.
I would classify 28 days of interrogation as torture. The RCMP classified it as “need-to-know” information, had him declared dead of a totally coincidental heart attack and kept the reality of the situation secret until 1981. The purge of LGBTQ2S+ public servants continued until the early 1970s. LGBTQ2S+ purges continued in the RCMP and the military up until the 1990s.
The government apologized for the purge in 2017, a year before I joined the public service, and paid out a settlement to many of those affected, after victims spent years fighting for recognition.
This is not ancient history- this is living memory. As we celebrate Pride this year, as we lift up LGBTQ2S+ people in our lives, we must remember what came before- the bloody, brutal fight for recognition, and the many barriers towards LGBTQ2S+ survival. Those of us in the PSAC must recognize the history of violence against our LGBTQ2S+ members and work to avoid perpetuating this harm ourselves. The union was not able to protect LGBTQ2S+ members in the past. We will do better this time. We must.
I ask you, this Pride season, as you put up rainbow stickers and temporary tattoos, to remember John Watkins. Remember where we came from. Allies must learn to live with this tragic history, hold space for our pain, because for LGBTQ2S+ public servants, this tragedy is inescapable. It is part of the burden taken on when we chose to be public servants, and it is a burden borne most heavily by public servants who are out and proud.
We must all work towards a better future. The battle for LGBTQ2S+ rights is not over just because June has passed. LGTBQ2S+ people invited you to the party. Now, we invite you to the fight.
Kay Hacker –Local 20278.
Sources:
Levy, R. (2018, October 3). Canada’s Cold War purge of LGBTQ from public service. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 2022, from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/lgbtq-purge-in-canada
Our history. Public Service Alliance of Canada. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2022, from https://psacunion.ca/our-history
UPI. (1981, December 23). RCMP interrogation of Canada’s first ambassador to Moscow, John Watkins, was kept secret to prevent scandal and to keep counter-espionage operations under wraps. UPI. Retrieved June 2022, from https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/12/23/RCMP-interrogation-of-Canadas-first-ambassador-to-Moscow-John/1926377931600/
Your Regional Team invites you to participate in the Saskatchewan Regional Seminar scheduled to take place at the Hilton DoubleTree September 16-18, 2022.
UNE Regional Seminars are packed with presentations, workshops and training that will give you the knowledge and tools to help your members. They are also a great place to meet other activists and forge long-lasting friendships.
UNE will fund two (2) participants and an additional (1) youth participant per Local:
The Local President or designate;
A member who has not previously attended a seminar should be given priority
A youth member (age 35 or younger as of December 31, 2023).
Locals should also encourage the participation of equity members and may send additional members at the Local’s expense.
Participants will be expected to arrive for on-site registration at 7:00 p.m. Friday evening, September 16, 2022. Accommodations will be arranged for delegates to spend two nights at the hotel for the Friday and Saturday night of the Seminar as activities are scheduled to take place into the evenings. The Seminar ends on Sunday, September 18 at 12:00p.m.
You must apply by Friday, August 26, 2022. Unfortunately, we will not consider late applications.
Your Regional Team invites you to participate in the Quebec Regional Seminar scheduled to take place at the Delta Trois-Rivières September 9-11, 2022.
UNE Regional Seminars are packed with presentations, workshops and training that will give you the knowledge and tools to help your members. They are also a great place to meet other activists and forge long-lasting friendships.
UNE will fund two (2) participants and an additional (1) youth participant per Local:
The Local President or designate;
A member who has not previously attended a seminar should be given priority
A youth member (age 35 or younger as of December 31, 2023).
Locals should also encourage the participation of equity members and may send additional members at the Local’s expense.
Participants will be expected to arrive for on-site registration at 7:00 p.m. Friday evening, September 9, 2022. Accommodations will be arranged for delegates to spend two nights at the hHotel for the Friday and Saturday night of the Seminar as activities are scheduled to take place into the evenings. The Seminar ends on Sunday, September 11 at 12:00p.m.
You must apply by Friday, August 5, 2022. Unfortunately, we will not consider late applications.
The UNE 2022 Local Presidents’ Conference is just a few short months away! This event will bring presidents from every UNE Local to Gatineau, QC, August 11-14 for our first in-person event in over two years. Participants will attend educational sessions, hear from guest speakers and network with other union activists.
While this conference is geared toward Local President training, there will be a secondary theme of health and safety as our members have had to navigate both mental and physical challenges in workplaces and at home during the pandemic.
Your Local’s participation is very important. If you are unable to attend, we encourage you to designate another member of your Local Executive to attend the Conference, with preference given to your Local’s Health & Safety Representative.
Locals may also send observers at the Local’s expense.
If you are unable to register, please contact Suzanne Boucher at 613-560-4359 or at events@une-sen.org.
We look forward to meeting once again, in person, for the first time in over two years. But times have changed, and provincial health regulations have been extremely fluid. Participants will be expected to follow regulations put in place at the event venue and public travel hubs such as airports and railway stations.
As per PSAC’s current COVID-19 Vaccination Policy Guidelines, participants must attest to being fully vaccinated during online registration and have their proof of vaccination verified at the Conference.
Again, this is our first in-person event in over two years. The state of the pandemic is constantly evolving and regulations could change. We appreciate your understanding and patience while we navigate this together.
There will be more information circulated as the Conference date approaches, but don’t hesitate to check the UNE website for the latest updates.
In Solidarity,
Kevin King National President Union of National Employees
Amethyst Women’s Addiction Centre Best Theratronics Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Canada Council for the Arts Canadian Museum for Human Rights Canadian Museum of History Canadian Museum of Nature Canada Science and Technology Corporation CMHC Granville Island, B.C. House of Commons Jeunesse j’écoute Library of Parliament Kids Help Phone Mohawk Council of Akwesasne National Battlefields Commission Nordion (Canada) Inc. Office of the Auditor General Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp c.o.b OLGG Slots at Rideau Carleton Raceway Parks Canada SeedChange (formerly known as Unitarian Service Committee of Canada) Senate of Canada – Operational Group SSHRC Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Treasury Board
Why is it important that you sign your card? Click here to view and print 10 reasons. You’ll make our union stronger and have more voice in how we fight for your rights.
If you are a UNE member whose workplace is not on the list above, you can still contact us and we’ll send you a physical membership card.
When Tristan Drozdiak received $15,000 in lump sum payments in 2018 compensating him for two years of underpayments, he assumed he could leave his Phoenix nightmare behind him. But four years later, his future is anything but certain after receiving a letter claiming he now owes $3,000 in overpayments.
“Receiving a bill was a massive surprise for me,” said Tristan. “I thought my situation had been resolved for four years. Then I find out, out of the blue, that it’s not resolved and it’s as complicated as ever.”
The ongoing pay issues forced Tristan and his now fiancée, Teri, to put off buying a home back in 2016. Now, as they plan their future together, Tristan has an uneasy feeling that his Phoenix issues may never be resolved.
“We already waited to buy a house, and now we’re planning for a wedding and maybe kids. But who’s to say I’m not going to get contacted in another four years? It feels like there’s a sword hanging over my head and I shouldn’t have to deal with that stress.”
“It feels like there’s a sword hanging over my head and I shouldn’t have to deal with that stress.”
Tristan began his public service career in 2013 and moved into his current role as an interpreter with Parks Canada in Edmonton in 2015. For two years between 2016 and 2018, the PSAC-UNE member was underpaid by $7 per hour on each pay, and at one point was overpaid $3,000 in one month.
Although his field unit tried to support him, they didn’t have answers, and it took more than a year of back and forth with the Pay Centre before he got confirmation that the system had been updated to indicate there was a problem. Meanwhile, Tristan created a spreadsheet to try to keep track of what was happening but found it too frustrating and complicated to manage.
“It was very difficult to track what the heck happened between 2016 and 2018,” said Tristan. “In addition to everything else, there were little mistakes that happened constantly on my paycheques that to this day I’m not sure how to untangle.”
In the summer of 2018, two lump sum payments appeared in his bank account. However, he never received an explanation or breakdown of the payments and couldn’t understand how the numbers were determined. To complicate matters, he also received the retroactive pay he was owed after the new Parks Canada collective agreement went into effect on May 31, 2018.
“I appreciate the constant advocacy from PSAC — it makes me feel like someone’s actually in our corner.”
When he received a letter from the government earlier this year claiming he owed $3,000 in overpayments, he turned to PSAC for support to escalate his case and get to the bottom of his pay issues. PSAC has helped more than 10,000 members fix their Phoenix issues, whether it was with their pay, pension, health care benefits, or severance.
“I appreciate the constant advocacy from PSAC,” said Tristan. “Just the fact that you are pushing and not letting things slide makes me feel like someone’s actually in our corner.”
If you have a pay issue you haven’t been able to resolve with the Pay Centre and would like our Phoenix team to escalate your case, reach out to us and select the Phoenix problem you’re experiencing from the dropdown menu.
February is the month to celebrate the many achievements and contributions of Black Canadians and their communities who, throughout history, have done so much to make Canada the culturally diverse, compassionate, and prosperous nation it is today. Please let’s take that opportunity to learn and educate ourselves with one story at a time.
Hogan’s Alley
Do you see the viaduct in that picture? This is where Vancouver’s Black Community used to live in the 1900s.
History has shown that institutional racism often targets marginalized communities. Hogan’s Alley, in Vancouver, is one such example. The first Black immigrants (of African Descent) arrived in British Columbia from California in 1858.
They settled in Vancouver Islands but began migrating to Vancouver in the early 1900s. Hogan’s Alley was ethnically diverse but had a large cluster of Black businesses and residents (reaching over 800) that formed the nucleus of Vancouver’s first concentrated African Canadian community.
Along with the resident population, the area was a destination spot for Black train porters on layover, Black vaudeville circuits coming through via California and popular Black musicians of the time. However, the vision of urban renewal gradually displaced and eventually demolished most of Hogan’s Alley in 1972, making way for the Georgia Viaduct.
So, what was once a vibrant cultural hub for great food and jazz music in the 1960s was quickly transformed into the noise of vehicles as they passed by on the new viaduct. Like the destruction of Africville in Nova Scotia, another Black community in Vancouver was demolished. The question now is which marginalized community will be next?
The Audit Services Group has voted to give their bargaining team a strong strike mandate after talks collapsed at the bargaining table between PSAC and the Office of the Auditor General of Canada.
PSAC members at the Office of the Auditor General of Canada support the audit work the OAG conducts to ensure that Canada’s federal and territorial governments are accountable and productive. These members perform a wide range of technical, professional, administrative and clerical duties in support of the Office of the Auditor General.
But members of Union of National Employees Local 70153 at OAG have been without a contract since September 2018.
Among the key outstanding issues are achieving a pay grid like almost every other group in the federal public sector, fair economic increases, and maintaining pay parity for certain classifications with non-union workers at OAG who received significant increases.
“PSAC members at the Office of the Auditor General have looked at the numbers and the employer’s latest offer doesn’t add up,” said Alex Silas, Regional Executive Vice-President of PSAC’s National Capital Region.
At the end of June, both the union and the employer presented their proposals before a Public Interest Commission hearing. The PIC report was released on August 25th and the Commission sided with the union’s proposals.
“These workers just want fairness and to get what even the non-union workers at the OAG have received. The Public Interest Commission agrees with what we’re saying, but there’s been no movement from the employer on these key issues,” said Silas.
Despite the recommendations from the Public Interest Commission hearing, management at the OAG has not brought any significant changes to their offer, instead returning to the bargaining table with the same proposals.
“It’s time for OAG management to return to the table and respect the findings of the Public Interest Commission and respect these members and the important work they do,” said Kevin King, President of UNE.
“It’s not an easy thing to vote to strike and this is a first for these members at the Office of the Auditor General. I want to assure these members that PSAC has their back and will support their fight for a fair contract,” added Silas.
